Sudan, S.Sudan break off talks, no deal in sight

June 07, 2012|Reuters

* Sudan says Juba holding up talks with claims

* Juba says entitled to raise more disputed areas

* Talks continue on Abyei region

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, June 7 (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan brokeoff security talks on Thursday after failing to agree on ademilitarised zone along their disputed border to help preventthem slipping into outright warfare.

The African neighbours came close to war when a borderdispute in April saw the worst violence since South Sudan splitfrom Sudan in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades ofcivil war.

Both countries, which accuse each other of supporting rebelsin the other's territory, returned to African Union-mediatednegotiations last week, the first direct talks since the borderclashes.

After 10 days of talks, the two sides were unable to agreewhere to draw a demilitarised buffer zone along the 1,800-km-(1,200-mile-) long border.

Khartoum's delegation accused South Sudan of making new landclaims, most importantly to the Heglig oil field whose output isvital to Sudan's battered economy. The southern army hadtemporarily occupied Heglig during the recent fighting.

"The border is based on a map that we have been using forthe past six years (since the 2005 peace deal was signed), butthey (South Sudan) have included five areas within theirborder," Sudanese Defence Minister Abdel Raheem Mohamed Husseinsaid.

"We consider it as a hostile action," he told reporters inAddis Ababa, where the talks took place.

To back its claim to the field, Khartoum has cited a 2009ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague onAbyei, another disputed area. The court issued maps that putHeglig in the north.

Juba contests Khartoum's claim, citing an internal boundarymarked from the British colonial rule that ended in 1956, andthe ethnicity of the local population.

There was no immediate word from South Sudan but members ofJuba's delegation confirmed talks on border security had endedfor now with no agreement and no new date scheduled.

Despite the lack of progress, Hussein said both sides hadrenewed pledges to end hostilities during the talks.

"We will continue attending these talks but the (AfricanUnion) panel will now take time and invite (us back)," he said.

Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting rebels fighting thearmy in two southern border states. Juba denies the claims andsays Khartoum funds militias on its side of the border.

Diplomats and the Sudanese foreign ministry said talks on afuture status for Abyei, another contested border area, wouldprobably continue for the next few days.

Both countries are at loggerheads on a string of issues suchas oil payments. Landlocked South Sudan took three-quarters ofSudan's oil production -- the lifeline of both economies -- butneeds to sell its crude through northern export facilities.

Both countries have failed to agree on a transit pipelinefee and Juba has shut down its entire oil output of roughly350,000 barrels after Khartoum started seizing southern oil ascompensation for what it calls unpaid fees.

Some two million people died in the civil conflict betweennorth and south, waged for all but a few years between 1955 and2005 over ideology, ethnicity, religion and oil.